Source: United States Department of Justice News
ALBANY, Ga. – A Brooks County, Georgia, resident with a lengthy criminal history was found guilty by a federal jury on two charges related to his drug distribution activities out of a Valdosta, Georgia, apartment complex.
Barry Kiya Daise, 44, of Quitman, Georgia, was convicted of one count of possession with intent to distribute cocaine and one count of maintaining and using a drug involved premises on Oct. 6 following a four-day trial that began on Oct. 3 at the U.S. Courthouse in Albany before Senior U.S. District Judge W. Louis Sands. Daise faces a maximum of 20 years in prison for each count, a $1,000,000 maximum fine for possession with intent to distribute cocaine and a $500,000 maximum fine for maintaining and using a drug involved premises. Sentencing will occur at a time determined by the Court.
“The defendant was selling controlled substances out of a Valdosta apartment complex, and he has a long track record in the community of committing this type of criminal offenses,” said U.S. Attorney Peter D. Leary. “Persistent, repeat criminal offenders face federal prosecution in the Middle District of Georgia when they choose to disregard the law by committing crimes that clearly harm others and damage neighborhoods.”
“Despite prior felony convictions, Daise continued to plague our communities with drugs and the crimes that result from it,” said Keri Farley, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta. “Thanks to our partnership with local law enforcement, he will now spend a lengthy time in federal prison without the possibility of parole.”
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, investigators with the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office Special Operations Division executed a search warrant at Daise’s apartment located on West Hill Avenue in Valdosta on Nov. 19, 2019. Daise was on probation at the time for a prior state felony. Officers recovered 48 grams of powder cocaine, evidence of crack-cocaine production, a loaded firearm stolen from Tifton, Georgia, and ammunition. Daise’s cellular phone had communications about him selling drugs to others and meeting in the Valdosta apartment complex’s parking lot to conduct the transactions, as well as photographs of guns and narcotics on his phone.
Daise has multiple prior felony convictions at the state level to include possession of a firearm by a convicted felon in Lowndes County Superior Court and possession of cocaine with intent to distribute in Brooks County Superior Court.
The case was investigated by the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office, Special Operations Division and FBI.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sonja Profit and Robert McCullers are prosecuting the case.